How to buy a bunch of lemons with a lot of gold?

There was a time when people used to buy chicken from their neighbor in an exchange for tomatoes that they grew in their backyard. But soon the neighbor did not want tomatoes anymore. Rude! But some wanted more chicken. Thus an intermediate medium of exchange became necessary. Gold, silver or such valuable items were introduced. But carrying them was difficult. So we gave them to the banks and got paper receipts, called them money and got stuck with it forever.

World currencies are not based on gold or silver anymore. Now days the value of a currency is determined by the demand for it.

Spending with paper money is easier. We forgot about all the work we did to earn it and we start spending it reluctantly. Spending with debit card is much more easier, you don’t even see the money leaving you and then spending with credit card is even more fun, it’s like spending free money!

Just imagine you went to a grocery store to buy some tomatoes. Instead of money, what if they asked you to work for them an hour? Would you still buy a ton of tomatoes, most of which will rot at the corner of your kitchen. Because you were feeling too lazy to cook and had ordered some pizzas. You might seriously reconsider how many produce you wanted.

Not all currencies are created equal: Also the purchasing power of money depreciates even with the blow of a wind now days. Less production, less demand for goods, money laundering etc contributes to further depreciation. So long long time ago, when we gave banks gold, got back paper receipts, called them money and then that money doesnt equal the value of that gold anymore. All that money we are left with can only be used to buy a few lemons!